Method of making flanged articles



J. J. CAIN.

I METHOD OF MAKING FLANGED ARTICLES.

APPLICATION FILED APR. a0, 1918. RENEWED SEPT. 18, 1919.

Patented Apr. 27, 1920.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN J. (min, or 13AYONNE, ,NEWHJERSEY.

METHOD OF MAKING FLANGED ARTICLES. g

Application filed April 30, 1918, Serial No. 231,664.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN J. CAIN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Bay onne, county of Hudson, State of New Jersey, have invented new and useful Improvements in Methods of Making Flanged Articles, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to flanged articles, that is cup or trough shaped vessels, with the flanges 'or walls integral with the bottoms or main portions, formed from suitable blanks of sheet metal. In the manufacture of such articles by a drawing, stamping or folding process the metal at the angles of walls and bottoms is, by stretching, distorted or reduced in thickness and the walls are often thinner than the bottoms, which retain the initial thickness of the sheet metal.

The object of this invention is to restore the metal at the angular bends and in the walls to normal thickness, whereby uniformity of strength is had in all parts of the vessels, or to increase the thickness of the bends and walls beyond the normal thickness of the metal, thereby increasing the re sistance of the same to pressures and rough usage and providing more metal for subsequent manipulations or mechanical operations.- This is accomplished by applying pressure to the edges of the walls after they are formed, and preferably while the articles are held in the forming dies or molds. The method also provides for shaping the edges of the wallsand forming the bottoms of such articles to adapt them for special purposes. .f'

It 's essential in the practice of this method that the sheet metal be sufiici'ently pliable and plastic to flow under pressure applied as set forth. If the metal be-hard and insufficiently pliable formanipulation under this method, asiron and steel, it may by heating in suitable furnaces be brought to the requisite pliable and plastic condition. l Y

Broadly, therefore. the invention consists in changing the walls and other parts of flanged articles by pressure'appli'ed to the edges of the walls, as hereafter fully set forth, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1. represents a vessel, in section, showing distortion or thinning of the angular bends due to the action on sheet metal of the flange forming operation.

Specification of Letters Patent. 7

Patented Apr. 27,1920. RenewedSeptember 18, 1919. Serial No. 324,576.

Fig. 2. illustrates the'same vessel with the angular bends thickened or restored to the normalthickness of the metal, by pressure applied to the edges of the flanges or sides of the vessel, said edges being thereby somewhat shortened.

Fig. 3. is a similar view with the flanges or walls also thickened, their height being proportionately reduced, as indicated.

Fig. 4. shows a blank of sheet metal suitable for forming a special article according to this invention.

Fig. 5. is a longitudinal section of the artiele' completely formed.

Fig. 6. is a plan view ofthe same.

Fig. 7. is a transverse section, showing the first stage of the formation of the article, withfthe'walls bent or formed up from the bottom.

Fig. 8. is a transverse section on line 8, 8,

Fig. 5, showing the walls and bends thicker than the bottom, which retains substantially the thickness of the sheet metal blank.

Fig. 9. illustrates, conventionally a press or apparatus provided with dies, formers at. adapted to make the article shown in Figs. 5 to 8, and:

Fig. 10. is an end view of the same, showing the dies &c. in section, as indicated by line 10, 10 Fig. .9.

It will be understood that suitable special dies &c. will be provided to manufacture different forms and styles of flanged articles, and that to facilitate the manufacture of such articles under this invention the walls will preferably be thickened and the articles otherwise shaped, by pressure applied to the edges of the walls, as soon as the walls are formed and while the articles are held in the forming dies.

Fig. 1, illustrates a flange or cup shaped article, in section, as ordinarily made of sheet metal; .11, designating the bottom and 12 the walls, showing a distortion or stretching of the angular bends 13. Theseangular bends may under the operation of the method of this invention be restored to the normal thickness of the sheet metal, or increased beyond the normal thickness of the metal, as shown at 14, Fig. 2, the sides 12, "being thereby somewhat shortened. The walls, by a continuance of the pressure on their edges, may be increased in thickness to any desired extent, being correspondingly decreased in height, as shown at 15, Fig. 3. During the time pressure is applied to the edges of the Walls the articles will be held in suitable dies or molds that surround the walls and determine the sizes and shapes of the walls.

In practising this invention special dies,

&c., will be provided, operated in a suitable press, such as a hydraulic press illustrated in Figs. 9 and 10, in which 16, is the cylinder; 17 the ram; 18, the platen and 19, the base. The female die or mold 20, seated on the base 19, will have the shape of its cavity conform to the outside of the finished article being made. The movable die comprises a plunger 21, shaped in accordance with the interior of the article and a flange compressor 22,attached to the platen 18, and surrounding the plunger. This flange compressor is adapted to fit in the space between the walls of the cavity of the mold 20, and the sides of the plunger 21. The plunger 21,

is free to slide in the flange compressor22,

and partly in the platen 18, said platen being provided with pawls or dogs 23, adapted, by

acting on the top of the plunger to hold it in outer position relatively to the flange compressor; see Fig. 10. Pins at, extending from the platen 18, into slots formed in the ends of the plunger causes the plunger to move upwardly with'the platen. Assuming the parts to be in the positions shown: a sheet metal blank 26, in proper working condition, is placed over the mold 20, and the platen 18, is caused to descend until the blank is forced to the bottom of the mold, or to a suitable desired position in the mold, the distance from the bottom of the plunger and the edges of the flange compressor being then sufficient to permit the side walls of the article, when folded up, to lie against 7 the sides of the plunger beneath the edges of the flange compressor. The dogs 23, are now removed from the top of the plunger 21, and, by a further downward movement of the platen, the flange compressor moves down the plunger to act on the top of the side walls of the .article causing the metal of said walls to flow both laterally and downwardly to fully fill the spaces between the plunger 21, and the sides of the cavity in the mold if the initial movement of the plunger has carried it the full distance in the mold; if the article is of such a character that the plunger and flange compressor must travel together to complete it then the upper side of the opening'in the platen by acting on the top of the plunger will cause it to shape the bottom of the article at the In making flanged articles, as rectangular troughs, such as at Figs. 5 to 8, it may be advantageous to shape the blanks from which they are formed, as for instance by cutting away the corners, see 27 Fig. 1, to facilitate the folding up of sides 28 and ends 29, to make the right angular bends with the bottom 30. Such a trough shaped article can be made by the forming devices shown in Figs. 9 and 10 in the manner before described. The sides 28 and ends 29 are bent up during the first action of the plunger 21., on the blank 26, which isset over the mold or female die .20, the plunger forcing the bottom 30, in the die until it is in contact with or slightly depressed in the corrugated bottom 31, by the corrugations 32, at the bottom of the plunger 21. The edges of the flanged compressor 22, which has similar corrugations 33, then act on the tops of sides 28 and ends 29, causing them to fill the spaces between the plunger and sides of the mold, thereby thickening said side and end walls, as shown in Fig. 8, and at the same time shaping the corrugations in the bottom 30, and correspondingly shaping the edges" of the walls 28, as shown in Fig. 5.

This particular trough like article Figs. 5 and 6, is adapted for "use in making headers for tubular boilers; for which purpose they are arranged in pairs with" the edges of the walls adjacent, said edges then being securely welded together. The headers: are

completed by welding the joints at the sides v of the ends 29 and the ends of the sides 28, and making the tube holes and hand holes in the sides 28, which constitute-the front and back walls'of the header. 7 Such headers are fully described and claimed in an application filed by me simultaneously herewith under Serial No. 231,663. 1 p

I claim:

1. The method of making flanged articles, which consists in first forming up the flanges or sides from a sheet metal blank and then by pressure applied to the edges of the flanges or sides, with the article heldin a shaping mold, restoring the bends at the angles of the sides and body, stretched or distorted by the forming process, to the norening the bends at the angles of the sides and bottom and increasing the thickness of the sides and correspondingly decreasing the height 01: the same by pressure applied to all parts of the free edges of the sides, with the article held in a shaping mold.

1-. The method of making flanged articles, which consists in first forming the flanges or sides from a sheet metal blank and then by pressure applied to the edges of the sides, with the article held in a shaping mold, chan ing the contour of said edges and increasing the thickness of the sides and correspondingly decreasing their height.

5. The method of making flanged articles, which consists in first forming the flanges or sides from a sheet metal blank, then forming depressions or corrugations in the bottom or main portion of the article, correspondingly changing the contour of the edges of the sides, by pressure applied thereto, with the article held in a shaping mold, and at the same time thickening the sides and conformably decreasing their height.

6. The method of making flanged articles, which consists in first forming the sides and ends from a sheet metal blank, then forming depressions or corrugations in the bottom of the article and then by pressure applied to the edges of the sides and ends, with the article held in a shaping mold, restoring the angular bends, which are distorted or stretched by the forming process, to the normal thickness of the metal, thickening the sides and ends and shaping the edges of the sides to correspond with the contour of bottom.

7 The method of making flanged articles, which consists in first forming the sides and ends from a sheet metal blank, then forming depressions or corrugations in the bottom of the article, simultaneously correspondingly changing the contour of the edges of the sides thus forming recesses in the edges of the sides at the concave and convex parts of the corrugations by pressure applied to said edges, with the article held in a shaping mold.

Signed at New York, county and State of New York, this 24 day of April, 1918.

JOHN J. CAIN. In the presence of JOHN J. HAYDEN, JAMES A. I-IUDsoN. 

